Paper dispenser

ABSTRACT

A paper tape dispenser suitable for dispensing a roll of paper, such for instance as roll adding machine paper, from a drawer or from a wall mount. The dispenser includes not only means to carry a roll of paper but also to guide the paper past a cutting edge. The dispenser includes a mounting bracket together with a tape guide-cutter portion slidably and removably secured to the mounting bracket by means of a wedge fit, together with a positive stop. The cutting edge is set at an angle from the line of movement of paper so as to provide a shearing action with respect to the paper and thereby reduce the force needed to cut it.

United States Patent [191 Dieguez 1 Oct. 28, 1975 PAPER DISPENSER 221 Filed: on. 29, 1974 21 Appl. No.: 518,294

[52] US. Cl. 225/54; 225/42; 225/80; 225/90', 225/91 [51] Int. Cl. B261 3/02 [58] Field of Search 225/39, 42, 48, 49, 50, 225/51, 52, 54, 77, 80, 88, 89, 90, 91;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,092,909 4/1914 Hardy 225/46 1,173,795 2/1916 Goldberger... 225/77 X 1,419,966 6/1922 Hare 225/90 X 1,708,725 4/1929 Huempfner... 225/77 X 2,110,827 3/1938 Daykin 225/54 X 2,324,028 7/1943 Rossi 225/42 2,391,112 12/1945 Wolfeger et a1. 225/49 2,834,557 5/1958 Graham 225/77 Waltz 225/39 Foster 206/408 Primary Examiner-J. M. Meister Assistant ExaminerFred A. Silverberg Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Flehr, Hohbach, Test, Albritton & Herbert ABSTRACT A paper tape dispenser suitable for dispensing a roll of paper, such for instance as roll adding machine paper, from a drawer or from a wall mount. The dispenser includes not only means to carry a roll of paper but also to guide the paper past a cutting edge. The dispenser includes a mounting bracket together with a tape guide-cutter portion slidably and removably secured to the mounting bracket by means of a wedge fit, together with a positive stop. The cutting edge is set at an angle from the line of movement of paper so as to provide a shearing action with respect to the paper and thereby reduce the force needed to cut it.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent Oct. 28, 1975 3,915,364

PAPER DISPENSER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the past, paper dispensers have been provided for use with roll type paper, such as adding machine paper, whereby to provide a rotary and continuous scratch pad. Such early devices, however, have frequently been difficult to load with a new roll of paper and requires two hands to operate. Moreover, the prior art dispensers either employed a cutting edge perpendicular to the movement of the paper or alternatively, caused the paper to be cut at an angle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION AND OBJECTS The present invention includes a formed mounting bracket which may be secured either to the wall or to the upright side of a desk drawer. The mounting bracket includes up and in turned sides which tend to converge at one end forming a generally wedge shape. The mounting bracket further includes one portion of a positive stop such as an opening or detent. In addition to the mounting bracket there is also included a formed tape guide-cutter which likewise has up and in turned edges conforming generally to those of the mounting bracket. The tape guide-cutter is formed from flat stock having a cutting edge generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis thereof but which is bent away from its original flat plane at an angle less than ninety degrees from the longitudinal axis thereof whereby the cutting edge is angled from the transverse of paper passing between the mounting bracket and cutter to provide a shearing edge. A bale is provided on the mounting bracket to restrain a roll of paper such as the usual adding machine tape.

It is a general object of this invention to provide an improved dispenser for a roll of paper.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevational view showing the paper dispenser of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1 but not showing the paper itself; and

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the dispenser shown in FIG. 1 but again not showing the paper itself.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring particularly to FIG. 1, the paper dispenser 11 in accordance with the invention is shown mounted on the side wall 13 of a drawer 15. The bottom of the drawer 17 carries the weight of the paper roll 19 to be dispensed.

The dispenser 11 includes a mounting bracket 21 having a rear wall 23 and upstanding side walls 25. As best seen in FIG. 3, the upstanding side walls join the plane of the rear wall 23 not at right angles but at angle a of about 75. In addition, as best seen in FIG. 2, the line of attachment between the rear wall 23 and upstanding side walls 25 is at an angle 3 of about 1/2 from the longitudinal axis of the dispenser.

The side walls 25 further include slots 27 which serve to receive and retain a bale 29. The bale 29 includes inwardly turned ends 31, as shown in FIG. 3, for retaining ther deformation of the bale itself. Preferably the bale 29 is made of spring wiresuch that it will have sufficient strength not only to retain the roll 19 at the bottom of a drawer,.such as shown in FIG. 1, but also to carry the full weight of the roll in instances where the dispenser is located on the side of a wall and with no other means to support the roll.

The rear wall 23 is further provided with countersunk holes 33 which may be used in conjunction with screws to secure the dispenser to the wall. In addition, a strip of double sided adhesive tape 35 is secured to the back of mounting bracket 21 to serve as an alternative or additional means of attachment to a wall or drawer.

Cooperating with the mounting bracket is a tape guide-cutter 37 which, like the mounting bracket itself, includes a rear wall 39 and upturned side walls 41. The side walls 41 bear the same angular relationship to the rear wall 39 as do the sides 25 with the rear wall 23 of the mounting bracket in respect to both angles a and B. In addition, the lower end of the tape guide-cutter 37, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, includes outwardly flared tips 43 which cooperate with anchoring slots 45 in the upright walls 25 of the mounting bracket. For clarity in the drawings, tips 43 and slots 45 are not shown fully engaged but it is apparent that as the tape guide and cutter 37 is urged downwardly with respect to the mounting bracket 21, tips 43 and slots 45 provide a positive stop to prevent further downward movement. This positive stop is in addition to the limit of movement provided by wedge fit at the angle [3. 1

The wedge fit at the angle B and also the action of the flared tips 43 and slots 45 prevent the guide-cutter 37 from being inadvertently lifted out of the mounting bracket 21 by a quick upward pull of the tape. Ordinarily, the wedge fit, then, prevents movement of the guide-cutter 37 either up or down, but when the parts are not sufficiently wedged together, the tips 43 and slots 45 provide that function.

The lower end of the rear wall 39 is also provided with an arcuately curved portion 47 which serves as a guide for a web of paper 49 which is to be dispensed.

The upper end of the tape guide-cutter includes a cutter 51 which is upturned from the plane of the rear wall 39 at an obtuse angle 7 of about Not only is the cutter 51 upturned at an angle from the rear wall 39 but the line of bend 52 is itself at an angle 8 of about 6 from a line perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the dispenser. Because of the combined angles, y and 8, there is provided a shearing action on the web 49 when it is being cut so that less force need be applied than would ordinarily be needed if the cutting edge were straight across. To further improve the ease with which the web may be cut the upper edge 53 of the tape guide-cutter is serrated. Even with the small amount of force necessary to cut the tape, the downward motion of the tape along the edge 53 not only serves to cut the tape itself but also to further wedge the guide-cutter 37 into the mounting bracket 21.

The upper edge 53 is disposed above the line of bend 52 by about one inch so that after each cut, a length of tape 57 is readily available to pull an additional length to be cut off. Consequently, the combination of the outwardly bent cutter 51 and the inclined line of bend 52 permits easy cutting of the tape, square cut pieces of tape, easy access to a follow on piece of tape 57 for the next cut and a force wedging the guide-cutter 37 into the mounting bracket 21.

Within the center of the rear wall 39 of the tape guide-cutter is located an opening 55 which may serve as convenient access to the tape should it somehow become retracted between the mounting bracket and the tape guide cutter. Also, it is a convenient access to extend the tape substantially beyond the serrated edge 53 for more ease in actual use.

In operation of the tape dispenser a roll of paper tape, such as adding machine tape, is situated in the drawer such that the web of tape 49 leaves the roll at the bottom toward the mounting bracket. The tape guide-cutter 37 may be removed from the mounting bracket 21 and the tape run upward across the face of the bracket beyond its top edge. The tape guide-cutter 37 is then replaced inside the mounting piece with the web 49 running between the rear walls 23 and 39 of the mounting bracket 21 and tape guide-cutter 37, respectively. The roll 19 is then secured to the inwardly extending portions 31 of the bale 29. The tape may be pulled out to a desired length and then torn off with a downward motion across the serrated edge 53. After the piece is torn off an extension 57 of the web is situated behind the cutting portion 51 for easy access for the next operation.

Due to the fact that the web 49 lies in the plane of the back wall 39 and further in view of the fact that the cutting portion 51 is not only angled from that back wall by the angle y but the line of bend is angled by the angle 8, the paper torn off from the web is itself rectangular in shape despite the fact that the serrated edge 53 is angled to provide shear during cutting action. If the rear wall 39 of the tape guide and cutter were flattened rather than in the angle position, as shown in the drawing, the serrated edge 53 would lie perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the dispenser.

I claim:

1. A tape dispenser comprising means for guiding a longitudinal web of tape to be dispensed, said means including a planar web guide surface along which said web may be drawn, the direction of movement of said web defining the longitudinal axis of said planar surface, a planar cutter connected to said planar surface, said planar cutter and said planar surface forming an obtuse dihedral angle, the line of intersection between said planar surface and said planar cutter being at a small angle from the perpendicular to said longitudinal axis, and the edge of said planar cutter opposite the connection to said planar surface comprising a cutting edge.

2. A tape dispenser, as defined in claim 1, wherein said small angle is about 6.

3. A tape dispenser, as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for guiding a longitudinal web of tape comprises a mounting bracket and a tape guide-cutter both having planar back walls and upstanding side walls, said side walls being turned inwardly toward each other as they extend outwardly from the back walls, said side walls also converging toward each other along the lengths of their connection to the back walls, said tape guide-cutter being disposed in sliding relationship within said mounting bracket thereby to form a narrow space between the back walls thereof through which the web of tape may be passed.

4. A tape dispenser, as defined in claim 3, together with positive stop means disposed on said mounting bracket and said tape guide-cutter whereby the movement provided by the sliding relationship therebetween is positively limited. 

1. A tape dispenser comprising means for guiding a longitudinal web of tape to be dispensed, said means including a planar web guide surface along which said web may be drawn, the direction of movement of said web defining the longitudinal axis of said planar surface, a planar cutter connected to said planar surface, said planar cutter and said planar surface forming an obtuse dihedral angle, the line of intersection between said planar surface and said planar cutter being at a small angle from the perpendicular to said longitudinal axis, and the edge of said planar cutter opposite the connection to said planar surface comprising a cutting edge.
 2. A tape dispenser, as defined in claim 1, wherein said small angle is about 6*.
 3. A tape dispenser, as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for guiding a longitudinal web of tape comprises a mounting bracket and a tape guide-cutter both having planar back walls and upstanding side walls, said side walls being turned inwardly toward each other as they extend outwardly from the back walls, said side walls also converging toward each other along the lengths of their connection to the back walls, said tape guide-cutter being disposed in sliding relationship within said mounting bracket thereby to form a narrow space between the back walls thereof through which the web of tape may be passed.
 4. A tape dispenser, as defined in claim 3, together with positive stop means disposed on said mounting bracket and said tape guide-cutter whereby the movement provided by the sliding relationship therebetween is positively limited. 